That Road Trip
by FinnickOdair-Will-Live-Forever
Summary: Three years ago our favorite main characters spent a year travelling the states in an RV and learning how to truly live. Now an unfortunate event threatens to bring them closer again, but how will they handle it after years of going against everything they were taught about living in the moment? All we know for sure is that they will never forget That Road Trip. AU.
1. Chapter 1

**The inspiration for this was kind of a mix between 'Grown Ups' and 'Ride' by Lana Del Rey. I'm sorry if I don't update regularly for a while, I've been really bad with it lately but I'm hoping this will get me back into the swing of things. :) The time period is current, our main characters are all nineteen going on twenty and it's 2014. I don't own The Hunger Games.**

It was a nice day. It was the kind of sunny day where mothers hit up the beach with their three toddlers and middle schoolers played soccer in the park. Cheerleaders lounged round the pool on days like this or had picnics in the park after an intense day of shopping, and the senior guys would play shirts and skins basketball in somebody's front yard.

Finnick knew that Haymitch would have hated it.

Of course, the problem was that Haymitch wasn't around to hate sunny, happy days anymore. He had passed away last week at the age of forty four, after a drunken night out with Finnick led to bloodied windshields, sirens, and screaming pedestrians. The fact that Haymitch, a cold and sour guy until the end, had his funeral on a warm pre-summer day that he would have loathed was not Finnick's main concern. Not by a long shot. No, his main concern was that apart from his girlfriend Annie none of the people that Haymitch mentored, Finnick's old _best friends_, had bothered to show up. Did they even know the poor guy was gone? He had taught them how to truly live, and now none of them cared that he was dead.

"Are you okay Finn?" Annie rested a clammy hand on his elbow. Her eyes were red, and her usually pale face was ghostly.

"Sure." He shrugged, and her hand slipped off of his arm.

"I understand, Finnick. You know I do. He was our reason for being for such a long time." Annie sympathized with him. "I may not have been as close to him anymore as you were, but he meant a lot to me. To _all _of us."

"See, you say that." Finnick shot her an icy glare. "But how many of them are actually here? Look around you Annie- none of them remember."

Annie looked up at him with softness in her sea green eyes.

"How could they possibly forget?"

_Summer of 2011:_

"_Woo!" A slightly tipsy Clove Rainer stood up in the RV, popping out of the sunroof to her waist._

"_Clove!" Katniss Everdeen laughed, lounging on a beanbag. "You'll get bugs in your teeth."_

"_Don't knock it till you've tried it, Kat-bug!" She yelled back, throwing her arms in the air. Cato sharply tugged her leg, bringing her tumbling down to the RV floor._

"_I'm not gonna want to kiss you if you flies in your molars." He smirked._

"_Aw, Maxwell, you're no fun." Clove affectionately called him by his last name as she jabbed in the ribs._

"_I didn't pull you out of school for a year so that you could be RV bums for the rest of your life." Haymitch stepped into the main lounge area, popping open a beer can as he did so._

"_So what is the point of this, grand master Abernathy?" Finnick smirked as he threw himself onto a couch with his own beer._

"_And, uh, who's driving?" Annie asked nervously._

"_Johanna. Don't worry kid, she'll be seventeen in two months. Then she can legally drive."_

_It was mid-October, and the Indian summer had finally set in. For a month they had been touring the states in Haymitch's brand new, Hippie-themed, RV._

"_Are you finally going to tell us the point of this whole thing?" Gale Hawthorne asked. "Or have the ten of us just dropped a year of high school?"_

"_The aim of this time out…" Haymitch grinned, his eyes lighting up. "Is to stop living, and start being alive."_

"I thought at least Johanna would come." Finnick shrugged, pushing a papery sausage roll around his plastic plate. The wake was awful- the beer tasted like shit and the food was awful. Whoever planned it clearly didn't like Haymitch very much.

"You know she's busy, but if I'm being honest…I thought she'd come too." Annie said, reaching across the table to grip Finnick's hand.

"I just don't understand how out of then ten of us who went through a life changing experience together because of Haymitch, we're the only two who care enough to show up at his funeral."

"People have…Moved on." Annie sighed.

"Not true." Finnick immediately blurted. "You _know _that's not true. None of us will ever be able to move on from that year. We learnt how to _live_. Are you trying to tell me that they've forgotten everything he taught us about what's truly important in life?"

"It was the best year of our lives, but people are busy now. Peeta's started a bakery in California, Katniss went with him, Johanna plays soccer in Washington, Clove's at Harvard, Glimmer's modelling, Marvel's-"

"That's not the point Annie. Haymitch changed us. We shared a bond, and I'm not going to let the years we've had apart ruin that."

"How?"

"I don't know." Finnick sighed, resting his head in his hands.

"Excuse me?" Somebody tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around warily.

"Effie." Finnick stood up to hug her.

"Oh, Finnick." She sobbed gently into his shirt. They may have had the most on and off relationship Finnick had ever seen, but that didn't change how much Effie had cared about Haymitch for five years. They were polar opposites, and that had been perfect for them.

"I have a favour to ask of you." Effie addressed both Annie and Finnick when she pulled back from his embrace. "Over in my car I have Haymitch's…Ashes."

"Oh my God." Annie inhaled sharply, like the death was only just hitting her.

"I…I know where he'd like them spread." Effie's voice broke over the words more than once.

"Where?" Finnick asked.

"Everywhere." Effie sobbed. She took a minute to dap at her eyes and compose herself before continuing. "He loved you kids- all of you. The road trips he took with you made him the man he was and his teachings were so very incredible. I think it would be the perfect send off if you would all reunite for one last road trip and scatter his ashes in every state that you visited…If it's not too much trouble.

"Oh Effie, we'd love to do it for him but-"

"We'll do it." Finnick cut Annie off before she could finish her sentence. After returning from their junior year away, the group had been close as seniors. Less than half a year later that all changed, with Clove cramming in evening classes and study sessions to catch up with tests and the workload, Annie devoting herself to swimming, Katniss focusing on making sure her Freshman sister Prim was doing okay and Marvel travelling the state for the debate team. When senior year ended, they stopped talking except for the occasional phone call once a month. But Finnick knew that this would be perfect for them, and for Haymitch.

"You will? Oh my!" Effie wrapped the teenagers in her arms. "This would mean so much to him."

"I know, Effie." Finnick responded with a grin on his face. "Trust me, I know."


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

_November 2011:_

"_Gather round. I've got a story to tell you."_

_It was the first time they'd actually stopped for a night since they began their road trip, and the sixteen year olds eagerly gathered around Haymitch's camp fire to hear his tale._

"_Firstly, ask yourself one question. Why did I chose you ten to come with me on this trip?" _

"_Because we're all friends?" Peeta suggested._

"_Because we're the most fun?" Glimmer laughed, fist-bumping Gale._

"_Because out of all the kids in that high school, you are the most superficial group I've ever met." Haymitch corrected them, raising an eyebrow._

"_Superficial?" Johanna chuckled. "No way."_

"_You don't even see it in yourselves. Raise your hand if you care about grades." Haymitch said, and the whole group kept their hands up._

"_Keep your hands raised if you'd lose friends to get perfect grades." He instructed, and nobody dropped their hands._

"_Raise your hand if you enjoy parties." He said. "Now drop them if you'd miss a party to hang out with your family."_

_Again, no hands dropped._

"_See what I mean? That's not what life is. Years at the top of the pecking order has left you like this. You shouldn't be worrying more about appearances than being a saving grace for someone, or about being at the hottest party of the year when your younger sibling's at home struggling with an issue. Don't drop friends for grades or sports- encourage them to greatness. Live a full life and maximise who you care about for as long as you can."_

"_Can we hear the story now?" Finnick asked glumly._

"_When I was your age, my father was very sick. I loved him, but not as much as I loved the idea of becoming the next big thing at Panem High. I lost almost all of my friends because I studied too hard to be clever. I got wasted at parties and lost my girlfriend when I cheated on her. I tried too hard to be a track superstar and blew my knee at the age of eighteen. And then one day, when I was out at a fraternity party with some older friends, my dad passed away." Haymitch said, his eyes glinting gold in the firelight._

"_Oh no." Annie sniffled, burying her head in Finnick's arm._

"_From then on, I realized the true things I should be valuing in life, and now I'm going to teach them to you guys."_

"_What are they?" Cato asked, leaning forward to catch Haymitch's answer more clearly._

"_Friends, family, love, freedom, and having no regrets. Once you have mastered all these, you will truly be alive."_

"I'm not sure I understand what you're planning on doing." Annie said as Finnick clicked away on his laptop.

"Well I called everyone, and Cato, Katniss, Gale and Marvel are down for it. The others said no." Finnick explained, typing something.

"So we just need to convince Glimmer, Johanna, Clove and Peeta?" Annie asked, sitting opposite him at their kitchen table.

"Uh-huh." Finnick nodded, his eyes glued to his laptop screen.

"So how are we going to do that? And what are you even doing right now?"

"I'm booking a flight to Massachusetts." He shrugged in response.

"Massachusetts?! No way, Finnick! You are _not _going to try and convince Clove to come, you know how stubborn she is." Annie said, her mouth hanging open in shock.

"She didn't pick up the phone when I tried to call her. The least I can do is tell her that Haymitch is dead." Finnick explained. "Anyway, it's booked now. I have to be at the JFK airport in six hours."

"_Finnick_." Annie groaned.

"Come on." Finnick stood up and grabbed his keys from the table. "We have to be at the Crosby street hotel in thirty minutes if we want to catch Glimmer before her shoot."

…

When they reached the Crosby, it was clear to Finnick that Glimmer hadn't quite forgotten Haymitch's teachings. Assistants ran around all over the place fetching Italian coffee for the models and British meat for their pets. Glimmer, however, ran around with them to help them out.

"I see there's still some Haymitch in you." Finnick called to her. Glimmer whipped around- her make-up was dark and smoky and, paired with the messy hair and torn black dress she wore, made her look like a demon.

"Finnick! Annie!" She gasped, embracing the two in a hug.

"Glimmer, looking gorgeous as ever." Finnick greeted her, giving her a friendly peck on the cheek.

"Now, now Finnick. Let's not make Annie jealous." Glimmer laughed.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He chuckled as the three of them pulled away.

"So…I know why you're here." Glimmer said, hitting them with a sudden air of seriousness. "I can't go, Finnick. You know I can't."

"I'm not sure that I do know that, Glim. Think about everything Haymitch did for us. Would you be who you are now if it wasn't for him?" Finnick asked, stating at her intensely.

"I'm doing this _for _him! He told me to always follow my heart and my dreams. I'm so close to making it big, and I can't leave it all now. He wouldn't want me to." Glimmer explained, folding her arms uncomfortably across her chest.

"Glimmer." It was Annie who stepped forward this time. "I wasn't all that hot on the idea either. But we _have _to do this. For Haymitch. For _his _dreams."

Glimmer sighed heavily and bit her lip.

"I'm in."

…

"_No_."

"Come on Clove, do it for Haymitch."

"No!"

"Why not?"

"You probably hadn't noticed, but I'm kind of busy." Clove gestured with her pen to the stacks of paper on her desk. "Harvard's kicking my ass and I refuse to get behind again and mess up my future."

"Clove…" Finnick trailed off, looking at her sadly.

"Don't look at me like that, Finnick. You have no right to judge me when you don't know how hard I've worked to get here." Clove snapped at him without looking up from the papers she was signing.

"And this is the most important thing to you?"

"Yes!"

"So…You'd lose friends to get perfect grades?" Finnick asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"That's not fair." Clove looked down at the floor, her pen slowing down.

"Maybe we don't want you there anyway." Finnick sighed, turning to leave.

"Good, because I don't want to go." Clove turned back to her paperwork.

Finnick whirled back around and glared at Clove.

"Has this got anything to do with Cato?"

"No way. I can handle him, you know I can." Clove snorted.

"It was a bad break-up, and if he's the reason-"

"_He's not_!" Clove yelled. "I'm just too busy. I'm sorry, Finnick, I really am. I can't afford to leave."

"I'm going to take a few guesses here, Clove. You fell in love on that trip. Right?" He asked, and Clove stayed silent. "It was incredible and you miss it so much. It was the best time of your life and you dream of it every night because you just can't get over the freedom of the road. You remember everything Haymitch taught us but now you're afraid to put it into action because this is the real world- but that doesn't change the fact that you're going to miss Haymitch a lot. Right?"

Clove stayed silent still, and Finnick sighed deeply. He turned to leave once more and Clove let his hand hit the door handle before she called him back.

"Finnick."

"Yeah?"

"I'll do it. It could be...enlightening. Besides, if you want to convince Johanna, you're going to need me."


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"No. No way, no."

"You could at least listen to rest!"

"I'm not gonna do it! Not for Haymitch, not for you, not for the Queen of freaking England!" Johanna Mason yelled, glaring hard at the three of her old friends who stood before her.

"You always been a quitter, Mason?" Clove challenged, folding her arms across her chest and raising an eyebrow at Johanna.

"You always been a _loser_, Clove? We're not teenagers anymore, we can't drop everything to go gallivanting off through America in the name of some old man!" Johanna protested. Her right foot was resting on top of a soccer ball, and behind her a group of girls ran various different drills.

"That 'old man' taught you some of the most important life lessons you've ever learned." Finnick snapped defensively.

"Grow up, Finnick. We're not a group of kids looking for kicks anymore- we're young adults with jobs and money to earn. Haymitch isn't Yoda in the form of an old hippy either- he was shoved into an urn three weeks ago and been left on your bedside cabinet!" Johanna snapped back. She turned to Clove.

"And I'm ashamed of you, C. After all the hours we've both put in to get to where we are, you're willing to give it all up for next to nothing? I guess we know who the _real _hard-worker is now, Harvard girl." Johanna finished. Clove cast her eyes downwards, unwilling to look at her old best friend.

"You can't sacrifice a month? For Haymitch?" Annie asked, breaking her silence.

"Annie, I couldn't sacrifice a _week. This_ is the real world, not that place we used to go in our heads when things went wrong." Johanna's tone was softer when she spoke to Annie, who could do no wrong or harm a fly.

"What about Gale?" Finnick asked. He did not want to have to use that name, but he was desperate to get Johanna on the trip with them.

"What about him?" She answered flatly. It was still a touchy subject for her, not that she'd ever admit it.

"Finnick, don't." Clove warned, her face pale.

"The pact you and Clove made after the trip, to break up with your boyfriends and get studying…I think you owe him an apology. I think this trip could do that."

"See that girl over there?" Johanna pointed to a tall, thin girl with a long red pony tail. "When I'm on the starting sheet and she's my backup that's the only apology I'll ever have to make and trust me boy, it'll be a sarcastic one."

"Jo…"

"I've heard enough Finnick! What don't you understand about the words _I'm busy_? I'm World Cup material, but if I take any time out now nobody's gonna know that but me!"

"Haymitch knew that." Annie said softly. The three others looked at her, waiting for further explanation. "He's the one that encouraged us all to follow our dreams. He said, 'Johanna, you are a golden girl with golden boots. Fierce on the field, and just as fierce off of it. Never give up on your dreams because you're going places, and never give up on your friends because they want to go to those places with you. Glory lasts a lifetime, but friendship lasts for two.' Do you remember that?"

Johanna looked down at the floor. Wordlessly, she held her hands out palm up. Tattooed across her left wrist in black curly writing were the words 'Glory lasts a lifetime', and across her right wrist the words 'And Haymitch will too'.

"I remember." She said bitterly. "And you three aren't the only ones who miss him. Now I think you all should go."

…

Clove sunk down onto the couch in Finnick's apartment silently. No more than four words had been spoken between them the whole way back.

"Are you sure you'll be alright on the couch tonight, C?" Finnick asked, opening the fridge and pulling out a bottle of water.

"Yeah." She shrugged in response. They sat in silence, Clove on the couch and Finnick and Annie at the kitchen island for a few more minutes until the sound of Finnick's phone snapped them back into a state of reality.

"Are you gonna answer that?" Clove asked, turning around to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Yeah." He shrugged and answered his phone. "Finn."

"I know!" Marvel's voice was easily recognizable, even sounding tinny through Finnick's phone. "_I _called _you_!"

"Chill man, I'm sorry!" Finnick stood up and walked away from the island. "What do you mean?... No way. No _way_. Well get started, then!...Gross, no!...Twenty minutes, maybe?...Elugh. That's disgusting. See you soon."

He turned around, meeting two confused looks from the girls.

"We've been requested."

When they reached Haymitch's old house, Finnick almost ran over a group of arguing teens in the driveway.

"Finnick!" Glimmer yelled. "Please don't make me do it!"

"She has to! Everybody does!" Marvel protested.

"Hey man, I pulled the thing out of the corner and it was heavier than…" Cato trailed off from whatever he was about to say when he saw Clove getting out of the car.

"On second thoughts." He said, immediately looking away again. "See you in there."

"Everybody needs to calm down!" Finnick instructed. Surprisingly, they listened to him. "Guys, come on. We need to clean this thing out. I know none of you want to do it, but everyone _has _to do it. For Haymitch?"

"For Haymitch." Katniss nodded her head in agreement and went to join Cato in the RV. Grumbling under their breath, the others followed.

Finnick was expecting a mess, but when he stepped into the RV it was like stepping into a landfill site. Haymitch's old take-out cartons and beer cans lined the floor like a carpet. Old pieces of furniture, broken CD's and hug boxes of books lined the counters in the small kitchen and the couches in the main room. The sole bedroom was filled with old sweets and cakes that Haymitch had been hiding from Effie.

"Effie said it would be a mess, but…Ew." Peeta, who had been convinced to come by Katniss, shuddered.

"It's disgusting that we used to sleep in this thing." Gale added.

"Well what were you expecting? This was _Haymitch_." Finnick rolled his eyes. "Messy, disgusting, old Haymitch who loved and hated all at the same time. Open that box."

Cato opened the one he was pointing at. It was filled with old scrapbooks and photo albums.

"Look." Finnick took one out and opened it. He pulled out on picture, of them at the beach. Cato and Finnick were fighting playfully, Glimmer was sunbathing, Clove and Johanna were having a water fight and the others were helping to build a bonfire. "Remember when he used to do that? Take snap-shots of use that we wouldn't find out about until he needed to calm us down from an argument? Haymitch was a spiteful slob, but he was _our _spiteful slob."

"I agree." Clove said. "We need to clean this up with a smile on our face because Haymitch is up in heaven laughing his ass off at us cleaning all his shit up."

"Fuck you, Haymitch!" Marvel called, grinning, up at the ceiling of the RV. The others broke into smiles.

"Fuck you, Haymitch!" They all yelled, just as the rain came down.


	4. Chapter 4

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

Finnick absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair as he studied the maps that were laid out on the table in front of him.

"We could go this way." Annie suggested, pointing to North Carolina and then to Virginia.

"We could, but it might be easier to go this way." Finnick pointed out Georgia and Tennessee.

"Well what way did we go last time?" Annie asked, taking a sip of her iced water.

"We went through Georgia to get to the edge of Florida and then up into Alabama and Tennessee." Finnick explained, mapping the way with his finger. Mapping out the way that they should go wasn't exactly easy, and they didn't have Haymitch's way with maps. He could close his eyes and point to a state, then map out the route to get there in under five minutes.

"Hmm." Annie tapped a finger to her chin thoughtfully.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea." Finnick sighed. "I mean, it's a lot of work and we all have lives now-"

"Hey." Annie touched her hand to Finnick's. "Don't say that. You want this for him. We all do."

"You're right." Finnick smiled at her and kissed her on the cheek.

"I always am." Annie smiled back.

"I think we should go this way." He traced the way from South Carolina through North Carolina, right up to Maine and New York. "We can hit all the states up there and then hit Michigan and make our way down towards Texas."

"We can end the trip in Washington. But Finnick…Hitting all the states is going to take at least two months. It took a _year _last time." Annie bit her lip worriedly.

"Well, we don't have to tell them that." Finnick said, brushing it off. What was an extra month and half going to do?

"Finn…"

"They'll be having so much fun that they'll be on board with it by then. Trust me, Annie." Finnick shot her a winning smile.

"Fine then. But for the record, I don't believe you."

…

"I've never hated anyone as much as I hate you!"

"Yeah, well, you're a cold hearted bitch!"

It was a sunny day, a great one to start their trip. Birds were chirping, children were playing. Katniss was making tea, Glimmer and Marvel were giggling at something on her laptop, Peeta was loading the fridge with baked goods and Gale was relaxing in the newly cleaned bedroom.

Cato and Clove were fighting. Again.

"I hope you get hit by a truck, Cato!" Clove screamed, throwing shoes at him.

"Those are my shoes!" Glimmer protested, but Clove silenced her with a glare.

"I hope you get hit with me!" Cato fired back, hitting the floor to avoid a flying white stiletto.

"Whoa, what's going on in here?!"

The arguing pair paused their battle to watch as Finnick and Annie climbed into RV.

"She started it." Cato mumbled as he got to his feet.

"No I didn't, asshole." Clove scoffed.

"Come on you two. Just be civil to each other, for Haymitch." Finnick said. Making them feel guilty was always the best way to get them to stop fighting. Even when they had been madly in love, they were always either making out or fighting.

"Fine. For _Haymitch_." Clove glared at Cato pointedly, who rolled his eyes and stormed off to the bedroom.

"What was that even about?" Annie asked, accepting a cup of tea from Katniss.

"I asked Clove if she wanted milk in her tea and Cato said that that would mild cannibalism." Katniss shrugged.

"On the bright side," Marvel piped up from the couch. "Peeta brought cakes!"

"Great. Anyway, who wants to drive?" Finnick asked, holding out the keys. Nobody volunteered.

"Um…Johanna and Haymitch were usually the ones to drive." Peeta said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. It hadn't exactly been hard to convince him to come with them once Katniss had said she was going.

"I'll do it." Clove snarled, grabbing the keys forcefully. She yanked the door to the front of the RV open and slammed it shut behind her.

"I'll go sit with her." Glimmer sighed, as Clove pulled out if the driveway at an already breakneck speed.

"You don't have to do that, Glim." Annie smiled at the girl warmly. "She'll only want to kill you too."

"No, I should go. Either she kills me, or she kills all of us when she crashes." Glimmer passed her laptop to Marvel and went to join Clove in the front.

"This…Isn't the best start." Finnick sighed. He sat down in the spot Glimmer had just vacated.

"It could have been worse." Annie said lightly as she sat in a beanbag chair.

"It also could have been better." Katniss said.

"Um, guys?" Glimmer opened the door a crack and stuck her head through. "We have no idea where we're going."

…

They stopped at a café just inside of North Carolina that looked like it hadn't seen any business in the last six months. A lone employee was sat at the cash register reading a book, and only two of the eight tables were set with knives and forks.

"Um…Maybe we should try somewhere else. Like a McDonalds." Cato said when they were all stood inside. The man at the cash register glanced up briefly, before looking back down to his book.

"Wimp." Clove jibed. Cato narrowed his eyes at her and walked up to the employee.

"What sort of food do you do here?" He asked.

"Sandwiches. Cakes. Coffee." The man shrugged.

"Well, I'm sold." Gale shrugged. He walked over to one of the tables and sat down with his back to the windows. "I'll take a black coffee and a chocolate muffin."

The others put in their orders and joined him at the table.

"Why did I agree to this?" Clove sighed. "I could be doing something actually productive."

"This is for-"

"Yes, Finnick. I get it. It's for Haymitch."

"Maybe if you stopped moaning you'd start to appreciate it." Cato shrugged before taking a bite of his ham and cheese sandwich.

"Fuck you." Clove snapped icily.

"Come on, guys. Please don't fight the whole time." Peeta said, fiddling with his water bottle.

"Tell him to-"

"Both of you! Just cut it out!" Glimmer snapped, surprising the others. "We all have stuff we could be doing, but we chose to be here. So just _stop_."

"I don't have to take this shit." Clove threw her hands up in the air and kicked her chair back from the table. "I'll be in the RV."

"For fucks sake." Finnick groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"Sort it out, you two." Katniss sighed, playing with the icing of her cake with her fork.

"You can't reason with her." Cato protested. "It's like talking to a wall."

"I don't care!"

"Okay, we don't all need to fight. Please, let's just all calm down." Annie pleaded with them. They all agreed, but Finnick could already see his plans falling apart.


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own The Hunger Games.**

"Okay, I give up." Marvel walked into the main RV room, abandoning the driver's seat. "Where the hell are we?"

"Somewhere in Ohio?" Katniss suggested, pointing out the licence plate of a car in front of them. They had pulled into a parking lot just off of the highway that only contained three cars and an old truck.

"Why don't we just buy a satnav?" Peeta asked, but he was quick to shut up when Finnick glared at him.

"We don't _need _a satnav. We have all these maps." He explained, pointing to the stack that sat on the coffee table.

"But you _need _a haircut." Gale laughed, and high-fived Cato.

"And you _need _to get a girlfriend." Finnick shot back. The group laughed, but it wasn't as loud as it used to be. Glimmer and Clove were sat in the bedroom, no doubt talking shit about the others, and Finnick was so stressed that he had taken a three hour nap earlier that day.

"Seriously though guys, where are we? That hobo is really starting to freak me out." Marvel pointed out a bearded man sat next to the old truck glaring at them.

"Why have we stopped?" Clove walked out of the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

"We're lost." Annie sighed.

"No we're not." Clove frowned in confusion. "We stopped here last time, remember? That's Larry."

Clove pointed to the homeless man, and Finnick slapped his forehead.

"Of course! Larry! He was an old friend of Haymitch's, remember? We're, like, half an hour away from reaching Pennsylvania!" Finnick exclaimed. He pulled his shoes on and ran outside.

"Larry!" He yelled.

"Oh, hell." Annie muttered, and ran off after him.

…

"Okay. That wasn't Larry, and we need to drive. _Now_." Finnick and Annie stood panting in the doorway. The homeless man was throwing his shoulder into the RV repeatedly, and the whole thing was shaking.

"I'm on it!" Marvel yelled, and dived back through the doors. They accelerated out of the car park, leaving the homeless man to shake his fist at them.

"This is definitely where we stopped before though." Annie said positively. "Just, you know, with a different homeless man."

"Whatever. Peeta, we need you. Now." Clove used her finger to beckon Peeta over.

"I thought that the infamous Clove Rainer didn't need anyone." Cato smirked. Clove didn't even reply- she just threw a dart at his head. Cato ducked at the last minute, and the dart stuck in the wall. Glaring at him the whole way, Clove pulled Peeta into the bedroom and slammed the door behind them.

To say Peeta was surprised would be an understatement. The bedroom had been completely transformed, presumably by Clove. A desk was wedged in front of the double bed, though he was clueless as to when and how she had got it in there. It was already littered with paperwork and the bed and floor were covered in various different books.

"What the-" Peeta started, but was cut off when he was shoved onto the bed by Glimmer.

"We know your secret." She smirked. Peeta winced a pulled a copy of 'Law 101' from beneath his leg.

"What secret? And what have you done to this place?"

"Well, it's not really a secret." Glimmer admitted.

"And I've got to keep up with all the work if I want to be ahead when I go back." Clove answered from the desk chair.

"Anyway, let's move on to what's important." Glimmer continued, rolling her eyes at Clove. "You're in love with Katniss."

"Um…No I'm not." Peeta tried to deny it, but his cheeks were tinted pink.

"Yes you do! Everybody knows it except her!" Glimmer squealed.

"I can't do anything about." Peeta sighed. "What would Gale say?"

"Oh, who cares about Gale?" Glimmer sat down next to Peeta and took his hands. "He'll be totally okay with it."

In the middle of their freshman year, Katniss and Gale and started dating after years of being best friends. They had broken up a few months before the end of sophomore year, but they had remained close friends.

"I don't know…" Peeta was kind of uncomfortable about discussing Katniss with Glimmer, but she had always been a good friend. He would never admit it to her, but if anyone could help him out with this it was probably her.

"Trust me, he just wants her to be happy. Plus, he's still not over Johanna." Glimmer said knowingly.

"Seriously?" Peeta asked, his eyebrows raising in shock. Johanna and Gale ad broken up at the start of senior, over a year ago.

"Well, yeah. She really ripped his heart out and-"

"Let's not." Clove cut in sharply. After all, she had done the same to Cato.

"Okay, whatever. We need a plan." Glimmer addressed Peeta, ignoring Clove.

"Well, we'd better start brainstorming then." Peeta smiled. Glimmer squealed again and squeezed his hands painfully.

"Well, we're almost in Pennsylvania. Remember what happened last time we went there?"

_Point State Park really was an incredible place. It was autumn, and the leaves on the trees were coloured different shades of vibrant reds, yellows and greens. The fountain was lit up, making it more beautiful than it was during the day time._

"_Hey."_

_Peeta turned around and smiled widely at Katniss._

"_Hey. Great place, right?"_

"_Yeah, it's pretty cool." Her braid was loose and she wore a strappy white sundress that reached her knees. She walked over to Peeta and sat at the fountain edge with him._

"_Look at that." Peeta looked up, and Katniss did the same. Hundreds of fireflies flit around in the night sky above them._

"_Okay. This place is more than cool." Katniss laughed. Peeta's hand found hers and she smiled at him._

"_So, are you enjoying yourself?" Peeta asked._

"_It's a lot to take in." Katniss said after a moment's hesitation. "But yeah. It's been good so far."_

_They hadn't been travelling for that long, and the group was just starting to feel like they belonged on the open road. Haymitch was doing a great job of opening their eyes up to what they should truly be feeling, and they were responding._

"_I understand." Peeta nodded in agreement. "I wonder what it'll be like when we get back. I mean, missing a year of school…That's sort of illegal."_

"_Haymitch told them he's home-schooling us. Which is kind of true, I guess."_

_They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, content with watching the fountain waiter rise and fall._

"_Katniss…" Peeta pushed a lone strand of hair behind her ear. "You're amazing."_

"_Ha. Thanks." Katniss laughed. He was staring at her so intensely that she felt her face heat up a little. Slowly, they leaned in towards each other-_

_And felt themselves hit the icy water as rough hands shoved them into the fountain. Katniss was the first to find her feet, and helped Peeta up with a scowl._

"_Yes! That was golden!" Johanna laughed as she high fived Marvel._

"_I'm going to murder you both!" Katniss screeched. She hopped out of the fountain, and the chase began._

"Yeah." Peeta frowned. "I remember."

"That was classic." Clove laughed from her desk. "You two were pissed for days!"

"Get back to your work, Clove." Glimmer frowned as Clove flipped her the bird.

"We have to put that together again." She continued. "It was such a perfect moment and it sucks for you that it got ruined. We have to make sure everything happens again, minus the splash-splash. Okay?"

"Okay." Peeta agreed, seeing where she was going with her line of thought.

"She'll remember how happy she was back then and the amazing times you guys had. She'll be all over you, trust me." Glimmer grinned and squeezed Peeta's hands again.

"Right, okay. Let's do it."


End file.
